Before and After: My Master Bedroom…Finally

Green Your Decor is probably one of the few interior design blogs where you’d be hard pressed to find photos of my home. There are a couple of reasons for that — the biggest of which being that we have moved so many times since I started this blog that I have never gotten a chance to really finish a room. Well, I’ve decided that I’m going to stop procrastinating. I won’t just finish all our rooms — I’ll also reveal them to you. So first up, our nearly complete master bedroom.

The ‘Before’ Shot

This isn’t a true before shot, since I forgot to take one before I started painting. But this is essentially “before” we did everything else. And yes, I did tell the hubby that this photo would be posted on my blog. He was too into a movie to care 🙂

The Details

Our headboard is made of 9 of Inhabit’s Seesaw wall flats (aff). I’ve been saying ever since I discovered the wall flats that I wanted to use them to make a headboard, and I finally got my chance. A pack of 10 tiles costs just $86, so it is pretty economical too. BUT, we went the even cheaper route and bought some of Inhabit’s “second-quality” wall flats. Think of it like buying “irregular” clothing at TJ Maxx. They are just $4.50 apiece (see the sale section), and the ones we received look gorgeous, with no noticeable imperfections. We bought a total of 12 tiles (miscalculation on my part), so we spent $54. Still, how’s that for an inexpensive eco-friendly headboard! We used the temporary mounting technique, which requires foam tape. They’re holding up really well and look pretty seamless. We love the finished look!

We also painted the boring lamps we’ve had for years metallic silver and replaced the old tan lamp shades with some funky new ones we found at Target. They look plain white when the light is turned off, but when the lamp is on, you see the fabulous silhouette of the pattern printed inside the shade. No, they’re not green, but I couldn’t resist!

My husband’s side of the room, which is much better curated than mine. And just in case you were wondering, that fabulous bedding IS Amy Butler’s organic Bucharest bedding. I won the comforter set in a giveaway last year from EcoSalon. Can you believe I’ve been holding onto it this long, but never used it? A few weeks ago, we bought a bed frame (made of recycled railroad ties, no less) and finally got our mattress up off the floor, and I figured it was high time we dressed the bed in something gorgeous. You can purchase Amy Butler bedding, in this design and all her others, in the Green Your Decor store.

I’ve had this jewelry box since my best friend gave it to me as a gift in college, and I have some other ideas to make it more “me”….including a vintage vase and some fresh flowers. Etsy to the rescue!

This is the stencil treatment that I did on the wall opposite the bed. It took me a few hours this past weekend, and I love it! It was just the pop of yellow we needed on the other side of the room. I made the stencil myself, inspired by this gorgeous laundry room makeover featured at Design Sponge last week. As you can see, we still need to get some baskets to go in the bottom of our TV stand, both for extra storage and to hide all the cords from the TV, cable box, etc. It’s a mess back there!

One final shot of the whole room. Can you tell Ja’Naya loves lounging on our bed?

The To-Do List

There are still some things I’d like to tackle:

A wool rug to cover up that awful wall-to-wall carpet

Some vintage items and fresh flowers for my dresser

Storage boxes or baskets for the TV stand

A few more yellow throw pillows for the bed

A hook so the hubbs can hang his guitar on the wall and get it off the floor

After all this happens, then I’ll consider it done. But for now, this is the furthest we’ve gotten in truly making a room feel like OURS in the past few years. I’d say that’s an accomplishment in itself! Just don’t ask to see the inside of our closet!

I’d love to hear what you think, suggestions for making the room better, etc!

Are you here from Young House Love? Check out this post that will tell you what Green Your Decor is all about and help guide you around a bit!

Thank you! I was a little intimidated by the yellow at first, but once we added the gray bedding, I fell in love 😉 We still want to do something to the dressers so they don’t look so plain, like add hardware or change the drawer fronts. I don’t know what yet, but we definitely need to add something to them 🙂

The entire room was done in spurts. We painted and hung the black frames over the nightstands one weekend. Then another weekend, we painted the lamps, installed the headboard, painted the stencil, etc. Overall, I’d say it took us about two days total. Not bad to take it from a standard apartment bedroom/box to something we’re now really happy with 🙂

If you like the DIY thing you might like an idea I’ve seen quite a bit lately. You use wall paper on the fronts of the drawers then put decorative molding around the edges. Really cute and inexpensive. By the way your room is so cute! I love the wall flats.

The colors are incredible and that headboard is to die for!!!! Jennae, you REALLY have an eye for decorating—and the hubs is pretty good at curating, too (I heart Bob and the guitar!). The stencils are fire, too… how\’d you make them? I\’m skerd of you!!!

Congrats—what a lovely room to get cozy in.

(Now I want to do our guest room over. It kinda sucks. So does our bedroom, but first… the backyard. So much to do, so little money to do it with! LOL!)

@ MyBrownBaby Yeah, I was skeptical when he said he wanted to put the poster of Bob on the dresser, but once I saw it there, I fell in love with it 🙂 The other black and white image is Haile Selassie, and the smaller one is a handmade art print that my former boss brought back from Ethiopia for us shortly after we got married.

I’m still in awe that we FINALLY pulled the room (mostly) together. We have a lot to finish in the rest of the house too, so don’t feel bad. The patio is a hot mess right now and my “office”/sunroom looks like a bomb hit it, but we’re getting there. We’re stretching what little we have as far as it will go. For ex. instead of buying a platform bed, we got a regular old bed frame since we knew we had the Amy Butler bedding to cover it with anyway. And the headboard only cost us $54. Most of the rest of the items in the room is stuff we already had, but repurposed.

And Craigslist and thrift stores are great for decorative items and quality vintage furniture for good prices…especially here in Atlanta. You can really find some good stuff on Craigslist.

Girl, give me a call when it’s time to tackle the guest room or master and we’ll whip up a mood board 🙂

I love the yellow and grey combination. We are moving in 2 months and I was just looking at the Amy Butler collection the other day as an option for the new master bedroom. It looks fantastic! Congratulations!

Great job! The yellow looks great! I was just about to toss a pair of lamps, but I think I know what to do with them now! I love the stencil too! That headboard is incredible! I LOVE how hubby was NOT moving for that picture! LOL

I love the headboard! This is EXACTLY what we need in our bedroom. We don\’t have a headboard, and we\’re renters (not even allowed to paint the walls), so this would work perfectly. How are the wall flats holding up to people leaning against it? We read in bed a lot, so we\’re usually propped against pillows that are propped against the wall.
This looks so great! Makes me think I can do something more with our room!

Hello Jennae
You have such a beautiful blog. Yes,I found you via YHL 🙂 and have to thank them.
First,master redo is fabulous, so small change with such impact, wow! I just don\’t understand what is that material you used for your headboard,but it looks so fantastic that I want it for myself.
I like your graphic design work, and your \"green room in a box\" is so lovely and originaly designed.
I appreciate you go green, so few people are going green,and it should be a must for all mankind.
Unfortinately,I can\’t nearlt afford to be green, although I would love to…
Be sure I\’ll be back to see more design advices and room makeovers
xoxo for your daughter

I was wondering- I saw on YHL that you attached the Wall Flats with foam tape-I’m wondering how removable that is if you ever want to change them out? Is there a special type of foam tape you used?
Thanks!

Amanda, foam tape isn’t super duper removable, but it’s not impossible. Once we pull them off the wall, a little water and elbow grease should be all it takes to get the residue off the wall. Alternatively, you could probably use velcro strips instead of foam tape and achieve the same effect.

Hi Gina! They are actually really easy to dust, and in fact have collected VERY little dust since we’ve had them up. I’ve only dusted it one time, and it was more because I was paranoid than because it was dusty 🙂

you did a great job! very nice. i saw some really gorgeous yellow and soft gray pillows at target and thought it would be a pretty bedroom scheme and here i see it. i’m in love with the amy butler fabrics, so cheerful.

I love it! I am so going to find those tiles. Do they come in different styles? If not we are just going to have to have the same headboard! I was just trying to figure out how to convince my husband to get rid of this hideous bed set! Problem solved!

Teshanee, the tiles are made of bamboo pulp, so they feel somewhat like cardboard. Definitely not recommended for use around a fireplace! 🙂

And they do come in a variety of styles, so you can pick whichever one works for you. If you want something even less permanent than this, you can mount the tiles to a sheet of plywood rather than directly to the wall. In hindsight, I wish we had done that instead!

You did a great job! very nice. i saw some really gorgeous yellow and soft gray pillows at target and thought it would be a pretty bedroom scheme and here i see it. i’m in love with the amy butler fabrics, so cheerful. | 😛

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Hey, There!

I’m Jennae Petersen, and I’m a lot of things. A wife, a mother, a graphic designer and a connosieur of beautiful things. Green Your Decor was borne of my frustration with finding beautiful things that were also eco-friendly, and inspiration to reduce my own carbon footprint and help others do the same. LEARN MORE